Abstract: Poverty measurement has made incredible advances in recent times. These are both in
terms of (1) consolidation and developing best practice, mainly in relation to monetary
and quantitative methods, that took place in the fifteen years from the mid 1980s to the
end of the last millennium, and (2) the recent conceptual and methodological advances
that have taken place in the first few years of the new millennium. This study examines
poverty measurement in Sri Lanka against the backdrop of these advances. The study
also evaluates existing sources of data for poverty measurement, and makes
recommendations that identify priority actions for improvement in poverty
measurement, key players in the improvement process and steps to be taken.